Are you a believer?
Have you ever been asked this question before? Did the question and your search for an answer make you uncomfortable? Did you wonder to yourself what does this question really mean? For me, the answer to all these questions is "yes."
When I was growing up, I often heard the popular refrain in Christianity that to be "saved" all one needed was to have "faith." When asked what "having faith" meant, the reply was typically "believing that Jesus is the son of God." In other words, all we are required to do in order to have eternal life is to believe a certain set of facts about events that occurred over 2,000 years ago, and whatever else we do in our lives (cheating, stealing, murder, etc.) is irrelevant.
I struggled with this issue because logically it didn't make sense to me. Why would an all-powerful God, who created all of existence, care about a single belief we held? Anthropologists would say that for the vast majority of us, our beliefs are culturally conditioned. Is the Hindu raised in India with little exposure to Christianity who lives an exemplary life going to hell because she does not believe what an American who grows up in the Bible-belt is taught from a young age? What happens when an article of faith (for example, that God created the world in 6 days 6,000 years ago) contradicts what we know from other disciplines like science, history, and archaeology?
The more I thought about this issue, the more it seemed that the formula of "believe in the doctrine of XYZ" and "you will be saved" was little more than a carrot and stick approach to encourage people to conform to the doctrine of whatever authority was making the proclamation. The history of politics has shown that this exact strategy has been employed countless times (often to terrible results) by authoritarian regimes to compel conformity and thus solidify the power of the institution.
The modern view of believing in Jesus in order to be saved has its roots in Martin Luther's Reformation which responded to the Catholic practice of selling indulgences (paying the church for salvation) by substituting the doctrine of Justification by Faith as outlined by St. Paul. According to this doctrine, we cannot be saved by our good works because at heart we are all imperfect sinners -- our works will never be good enough for God. We are only saved through our faith in Jesus.
However, as Luther's doctrine has evolved over the centuries, it has been distorted so that "faith" has become synonymous with "belief." What has happened is that a new requirement has been substituted for good works. Making belief a requirement for salvation is just replacing another kind of work -- the mental work of belief in something -- as a condition to salvation. It is trying to bring in through the back door the type of human action and interference in God's salvation that Luther objected to with the Catholic church selling indulgences.
So what is the meaning of Luther's justification by faith? This means simply that we are already saved. We don't have to do anything for our salvation, and this includes believing in a specific doctrine. When we combine this theory with the conception of God (which I have outlined in earlier posts) as the creative power behind all of existence (instead of a supernatural being who judges our actions like Zeus from the top of Olympus), we can begin to understand how we are already part of the infinite and eternal power of being. The "Kingdom of God" is already present and real because it is the basis that underlies all reality. However, we do not realize that we are already saved -- we do not experience this salvation in our day-to-day lives. We live lives in which our egos dominate us and in which we live apart from the ground of reality that is God. Using an analogy from science, we experience only one side of reality -- our bodies and the spaces around us -- but if we were to look at reality at the molecular level, reality looks very different -- what appears solid is actually made up mostly of space and the empty space around us is filled with particles.
The path to salvation thus becomes more like an awakening, an understanding, and an experience of what is already here but we cannot see. The spiritual path (prayer, meditation, fasting, worship, etc.) becomes a mechanism to peal back the onion layers of who we are and what we think the world around us is, so that we can examine the power of God within ourselves, within others, and within existence itself. Salvation is an opening of our eyes and hearts, a new way of seeing the universe.
Faith then is not belief in a certain doctrine about Jesus, but a trust in using him as an example of what it looks like to live a God-centered life. Through the stories in the Gospels (whether or not the details are historical are irrelevant), we can understand the nature of God's presence within the world and what a God-centered life looks like: a life of humility, compassion, love without boundaries, a life which experiences suffering and doubt, but a life that ultimately participates in the eternal power of God that transcends death.
We've all heard the expression "Try it on faith." This doesn't mean, "Believe me" but rather "Trust me, and experience it for yourself." Faith is about testing, questioning, and doubting. In science these qualities lead to greater truths, why shouldn't the same apply to religion? For me, religion is about embracing the unknown and the difficult -- a journey of exploration that never really gets there because ultimately I am finite. Faith is about being comfortable with my doubts because doubt is part of my search for truth. Faith is not a closing of my eyes and mind to the real world, to science, to modern knowledge, or to experience, but it is the opposite: an opening up and a new way of seeing.
Understanding evolves and changes with information; it is open and dynamic. The history of science shows us that whatever our beliefs and theories are today, they will probably be proved wrong over time, and we will then adapt our theories to the new information. Yet in religion we often hold onto cherished beliefs in the face of contrary facts. I think we should borrow from the model of science and allow our religious beliefs to evolve with time as well. But we should be cognizant of the difference between scientific knowledge and understanding through faith and religious experience. I view faith as another form of knowledge that is based more on insight and wisdom. It is using intuition as a way of understanding versus pure reason. But it should not be in conflict with reason, science, and experience. Therefore when I pose the question at the top of my blog "What do you believe?", I do so as an invitation to explore your beliefs, to question them, and to engage in a deeper search for meaning that may mean confronting uncomfortable facts and evolving your views.
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Paul Brandeis Raushenbush: Christian Civility: The Test of Intra-Faith Relations
Basic Christian Beliefs - Basic Doctrines and Beliefs of Christianity
Comparison Chart of Beliefs of Christian Denominations - ReligionFacts
Christianity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:4-5).
Oh and just because something is powerful, doesnt mean it deserves praise.
Similarly Jesus told the Pharisees that not one jot or tittle of the law would be rendered ineffective. He also told them it was a sin to dump their wives and remarry and that they were vipers and snakes. They couldn't wait to crucify him.
John the Baptist told Herod's wife she shouldn't have married her husband's brother. He got beheaded for making her angry.
In the Old Testament, Prophets were inspired by God to tell Kings things they didn't want to hear and they got jailed, killed and exiled for it.
Nowhere in the Bible do I find believers instructed to just choose 'what resonates'. There is a difference between a struggle of faith and using Christianity as a springboard for a do it yourself religion.
What I have noticed on this site is Christian authors struggling to make their message palatable to an unbelieving 'progressive' crowd, and they still get hated and reviled.
The bottom line is this. Jesus told his disciples - they hated me and so they will hate you too. So if you are going to be hated you might as well take a stand.
Further, the whole theology of salvation developed in the churches through the centuries is based on the idea that God the Father, (who is love... but was angry [oxymoron]) would destroy the human race if not appeased.
So many basic ideas about God have been damaged and confused through this. Is God Love? Is there only one God? The leaders of the churches put down the questions of this by stating that this is a "mystery". But what's mysterious is how they ignore the first Commandment.
So not to leave this hanging - the correct idea of the Trinity is that the Father is the Soul, the Son is the Body and the Holy Spirit is the Activity of God. This One God filled the seed of Mary and took on a material body. Through this material body, hell was able to attack God - resulting in the defeat of hell - every aspect of hell... making His acquired Material Body also Divine (perfect).
Fabulous post! I particularly connect with these lines:
"Faith is about being comfortable with my doubts because doubt is part of my search for truth. Faith is not a closing of my eyes and mind to the real world, to science, to modern knowledge, or to experience, but it is the opposite: an opening up and a new way of seeing."
I believe religious faith and educational change share a lot in common. There are certainly some strong feelings about both domains, and I personally feel that both sets of beliefs are worthy of - in fact, demand - inspection, open-minded inquiry, and thoughtful investigation.
For me, my religious journey and my educational/learning journey are both about "new ways of seeing."
Congrats on the assignment to Huffington Post! Well deserved.
Thanks,
Bo
i guess the only logical answer to this question is that we may not be sure about the authenticity and accuracy of the doctrine, or, whether it is the doctrine God intended. But, if one is sure about its authenticity, is there a way other than following it?
Having unquestionable "faith" in anything perpetuates ignorance, and is dangerous to one's self being and respect.
God, however, does not keep back the gift because of ignorance. If a person strives to do that which is right simply because it is right, one will not be refused the gift of salvation. Why am I so sure of that? Because I trust God to be at least as fair and merciful as He asks of me!
You do realize, that Jesus founded the Christian Congregation and he approves doctrine that is harmonious with his words and his Fathers words?
If you're telling people that faith in God is more important than doctrine, then you should use a few scriptures to back up that claim. Then if you so happen to find one, then you should meditate on it to see if your viewpoint is in harmony with other scriptures, because scripture does not contradict itself.
They are using "religion" as their cover to do away with God's teachings.
Wake up and put your trust in your own hands. Trust yourself. Then, maybe the big cheese will have to return to answer for his failures.
did you see the video on the main of the new island being created? god is a volcano.
After that I think many would sooner trust ourselves and each other than any remote divinity.
The nature of god, or collective creation, the spirit, in my opinion, is simply to BE. It is like the pond in which we all live, or the atmosphere of which we all breathe and from which we are all made. If I were to "trust" god, I would trust it the same way that I trust oxygen -- to be true to its nature, providing the means for all life and creation to connect to each other.
(Some have called it "the IS", both sincerely and having some fun with the biblical burning bush.)
I think perhaps of all people George Lucas came the closest to articulating it: "an energy field created by all living things, that surrounds and penetrates living beings and binds the galaxy together" and of which we are a part.
My faith is rooted in my connection to this energy, which is either the best conduit for for love and compassion or is of itself such. I have palpably felt it, both in my connection to creation and in the tangible love of others.
And yes, I do believe in a counterpart to that which either is or can carry hate and selfishness.
...and yes, there is what God is not in this fabrication of time and space ever since the time Adam and Eve wanted to know what bad information would do.
http://www.backyardmystic.com/2010/09/compassion/